Bush's Valentine to Wal-Mart

A Sweetheart Deal with its Department of Labor

By NATHAN NEWMAN

Just when you think the Bush administration's corrupt dealing with
corporate America can't go any lower, they achieve the seemingly
impossible and surprise you. Not content to just slap Wal-Mart on the
wrist with a tiny $135,540 fine for violating child labor laws (a
fine equivalent to about 15 seconds of sales for the company), the
Bush Department of Labor (DOL) entered into an unprecedented
sweetheart deal with the giant retailer to essentially exempt it from
ever having to pay government fines for wage violations again.

The Sweetheart Deal: Here are the key provisions:

1) All local DOL investigations of Wal-Mart will be put on hold,
and any wage complaints by workers will be sent to the Little Rock
DOL office.

2) That Little Rock DOL office will then turn over the complaints
to Wal-Mart corporate headquarters without further investigation.

3) Wal-Mart will then have fifteen days to "fix" the problem.

4) If DOL then goes in and still finds a labor violation, Wal-Mart
will still have ten days to pay any wages owed and avoid any
financial penalty.

5) Oh yeah, one last fun provision. The deal was initially kept
secret and Wal-Mart retained the right to okay how the DOL talked
about the agreement to the press. How Hollywood of Wal-Mart to retain
creative control on Bush's press operations.

The bottom line is that no corporation has ever been given this
kind of comprehensive "get out of jail free card" by the Department
of Labor. Wal-Mart will have every incentive to violate the law
recklessly. Even if they are caught underpaying a few employees, they
can simply pay back the wages owed with no fine, while pocketing the
profit from underpaying the many workers who will inevitably never
challenge the employer's illegal activity. But then that's the point
of this kind of "notice" provision; it guts wage laws and discourages
enforcement.

A Recipe for Retaliation: And think about what it means for
employees to know that complaints they make to the federal government
are being handed over to their bosses. Giving Wal-Mart information on
employee complaints is a recipe for those employees to face
retaliation. Even if they do not immediately get fired, you know they
will go on a corporate internal blacklist. There is no instruction
anywhere in the agreement or in DOL communication with their staff
even to try to insure the confidentiality of the employees who might
make a complaint to the government.

And we know Wal-Mart believes in retaliation. In Canada, workers
at a Wal-Mart store in Quebec decided to form a union. Rather than
bargain with the workers, Wal-Mart announced in early February that
they preferred to shut the store completely -- sending a chilling
message to any other workers who might try to form a union.

The Quebec government is threatening to bring charges under
Canadian labor law, which actually has some teeth. Unfortunately,
American workers are dependent on a Bush Department of Labor that is
working hand-in-glove with Wal-Mart, one of the administration's
largest corporate donors in the last election cycle.

Luckily, some Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding an
investigation into how this kind of slimy deal got signed in the
first place. Congressman George Miller, ranking Democrat on the House
Committee on Education and the Workforce, had this to say about the
Wal-Mart deal:

"This is a company that has been accused of a lengthy list of
labor violations. Wal-Mart does not have the credibility to serve as
an impartial investigator of accusations of labor violations against
itself ... Once again, it looks like the Bush Administration is doing
a favor for a powerful friend and contributor at the expense of
workers who do their jobs and still cannot get fair treatment in the
workplace."

Evil Minds Think Alike: Unfortunately, the Bush approach to
gutting labor laws is spreading. Last fall, Florida voters
overwhelmingly (72%) approved a constitutional amendment increasing
the minimum wage by a buck and mandating that any employers breaking
the law pay double damages plus legal fees when they violate the law.
Now the Florida GOP state House leaders want to let violators of the
law escape those double damages if they give the money back within 15
days of being notified by employees of the intent to sue.

It's a bit like a law on robbery that lets criminals off if they
promise to give back the money if they ever get caught. We know that
this would make a mockery of the law and theft would explode.

But discouraging enforcement of wage laws is the point of the
Wal-Mart agreement and the law proposed by the Florida GOP. These
rightwing politicians hate working class people and support corporate
criminality. They are soft on crime when the criminals wear a nice
three-piece suit.

Nathan Newman is a longtime union and community activist and
author of Net Loss (Penn State Press) on inequality in the Internet
economy. Email nathan@newman.org or see www.nathannewman.org.